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Proposed Canadian Copyright Law Would Legalize Fanworks

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Canada’s proposed copyright bill, the Copyright Modernization Act, also known as bill C-32, would legalize user-generated works like fanfiction, vids, mashups, and other forms of remix if passed in its current form. The provision, which is being called the “YouTube Exception” by a lot of legal commentators, “grants Canadians the right to create remixed user generated content for non-commercial purposes under certain circumstances.”

The relevant portion of the bill is below the cut. (Thanks to Grace Westcott for the information.)

29.21 (1) It is not an infringement of copyright for an individual to use an existing work or other subject-matter or copy of one, which has been published or otherwise made available to the public, in the creation of a new work or other subject-matter in which copyright subsists and for the individual - or, with the individual's authorization, a member of their household- to use the new work or other subject-matter or to authorize an intermediary to disseminate it, if

(a) the use of, or the authorization to disseminate, the new work or other subject-matter is done solely for non-commercial purposes;

(b) the source - and, if given in the source, the name of the author, performer, maker or broadcaster - of the existing work or other subject-matter or copy of it are mentioned, if it is reasonable in the circumstances to do so;

(c) the individual had reasonable grounds to believe that the existing work or other subject-matter or copy of it, as the case may be, was not infringing copyright; and

(d) the use of, or the authorization to disseminate, the new work or other subject-matter does not have a substantial adverse effect, financial or otherwise, on the exploitation or potential exploitation of the existing work or other subject-matter - or copy of it - or on an existing or potential market for it, including that the new work or other subject-matter is not a substitute for the existing one.